Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries

Creator

Lewis, Joseph Donald

Title

Joseph Donald Lewis Papers

ID

Cage 227

Date [inclusive]

1900-1968

Extent

7.0 containers.

General Physical Description note

6 linear feet of shelf space.

Language

English

Abstract

Correspondence, financial records, newsletters, clippings, speeches, and a 16 mm. film, called Time Pulls the Trigger, by Lewis's anti-smoking organization, Nicotine Unlimited, founded in 1947; photographs and scrapbooks of his visit to Greece, 1953-1955; and photographs, scrapbooks and other papers relating to Lewis's employment at Washington Water Power, 1912-1953.

Preferred Citation note

Biographical/Historical note

Born in Chester, Wisconsin on September 4, l884, Joseph Donald Lewis moved to Spokane in 1909. After working for a year as an electrician on the construction of the Old National Bank, he started working for the Washington Water Power Company. Lewis worked at Little Falls his first year at Washington Water Power, and at Long Lake from 1911 to 1915. After working in Lind, Okanogan and the Palouse area, Lewis became district manager in Pullman in 1928. In 1936, he was promoted to Division Manager. He retired from Washington Water Power in 1953 and accepted a two-year appointment in Greece with Ebasco Services, Inc. There, he was one of four district managers in charge of installing a new power plant.

Lewis was involved in many activities in retirement upon his return from Greece, such as the Whitman County Red Cross, Kiwanis, Toastmasters and Washington State Council for Youth and Children. Much of his spare time, however, was spent on Nicotine Unlimited, an anti-smoking organization which he founded in 1947. He corresponded regularly with the members of the organization and sent out occasional bulletins. As a functioning, active organization, Nicotine Unlimited appears to have depended entirely on Lewis' efforts. It was quiescent while he was in Greece, and seems to have halted operations entirely during his lingering illness in the last years of his life. Lewis died on June 11, 1969, survived by his wife, Alice, and a daughter, Mrs. Duane Bailey.

Scope and Contents note

The papers and photographs of J.D. Lewis date from 1900 to 1968 but most of the material dates from 1947 to 1968.

The Nicotine Unlimited series consists primarily of correspondence between Lewis, members of the organization, and other anti-smoking organizations such as the American Cancer Society, American Temperance Society and the Non-Smokers Association of Canada. The anti-smoking literature dates back to 1905 and includes pamphlets, reports, clippings and magazine articles. The majority of material in the Subject Files concerns Lewis' civic and organizational activities and dates from 1955 to 1966. The small amount of Washington Water Power material is principally on an electric range sales campaign in 1940.

Almost one half of the bulk of the collection is photographs. A large number of them were taken between 1953 and 1955 when Lewis was working in Greece.

The largest number of photographs in the subseries Black and White Prints and Photograph Albums are from Greece. In the Washington Water Power folder, there are prints of stoves and kitchens from the early 1920s. The Scrapbooks and Clippings series contains material on Washington Water Power dating from 1912 to 1928 and on Lewis from 1938 to 1966.

Arrangement note

There are four series: Nicotine Unlimited, Subject Files, Photographs and Scrapbooks and Clippings.

Ther subject files are arranged alphabetically.

The folder numbers in the first subseries in the photographs refer to the slide storage sheets. Within each of the three subdivisions-Pacific Northwest, U.S. and Canada, and Overseas- the transparencies are arranged alphabetically by place.

Lewis had his own indexing system for almost all of the rolls of 35 mm black and white negatives. Each roll is numbered and the contents listed in numberical order in a series of notebooks. The subjects of the negatives are indexed in each notebook. More detail on the people identified in the notebooks is recorded on a tape made by Lewis' son-in-law, Duane Bailey. The notebooks and the tape are in Container 4.

Conditions Governing Access note

This collection is open for research use.

Immediate Source of Acquisition note

The papers of J.D. Lewis are comprised of three accessions. The first accession was donated to the Washington State University Libraries prior to 1970 by Mrs. J.D. Lewis. The second accession (MS 78-57) was donated in December 1978 by Al Butler and the third (MS 80-10) in March 1980 by Duane Bailey. The three accessions were processed as one collection in August 1983 by Anne Frantilla.

Overseas 1953-1955

35 mm Black and White Negatives 1937-1942

General note

The rolls of negatives are numbered 1-281; rolls 69-188 are missing. Lewis compiled a list of the contents as well as an index for rolls 1-213. The notebooks which contain these lists as well as a tape with other descriptive remarks are in Container 4.